Bali has Run out of Wood

Bali Handicraft Makers Need a Sustainable Source of Wood to Keep the Islandís Handicraft Business in Operation

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(2/9/2012)

The Winsu Foundation is urging the provincial government of Bali to establish cooperative agreements with wood producers nation-wide to ensure a steady flow of raw product for the island’s handicraft makers.

The director of the Wisnu Foundation, Made Suarnatha, said that cooperative agreements with wood suppliers are needed in order to guarantee constant supply of raw materials for wood handicraft workers.

Wood must now be secured from areas outside of Bali as the island has depleted its endemic wood resources. Such agreements would also ensure that the wood used by Bali wood workers would be legal under new international rules requiring exported wood products must be certified as originating from verifiable legal source.

“Areas in the east (of Indonesia) still have large areas of land that could be used to produce quality timber. This is why we need regional cooperation between Bali, West Nusa Tenggara and East Nusa Tenggara. In this way we will have a steady supply of wood produced in a sustainable way. Bali can then use the wood for manufacture, while marketing these products to the world by virtue of Bali's international reputation for quality wood products. Bali has to use high quality materials that can be verified as legal,” insisted Suarnatha.

Suarnatha added that such regional cooperation is also important for ensuring the development of wood handicraft projects in Bali. Data from the provincial government says that from 74,000 handicraft enterprises in Bali, 30,000 are involved in the use of wood products.